Backup
by kaitokitty
Summary: Robin is out investigating a crime without Batman's knowledge and gets hit by fear gas. Wally covers for him like a bro. Based on yj anon meme prompt.
1. Chapter 1

Based on a prompt at yj anon meme, Robin gets hit by fear gas and Wally is there to cover for him.

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><p>"Hey Rob, what are you up to?" Kid Flash's voice crackled in from Robin's earpiece. It was an unwelcome distraction.<p>

"I'm on a stakeout; word is there's something big going down tonight and I'm trying to keep a low profile." Robin hissed in reply. He was watching a group of armed men stand around a truck, one individual was well dressed and seemed to be their leader.

Wally replied casually, seemingly oblivious to the hint, "That's cool dude, I'm trying to find out how much meat I can put on this pizza."

Robin rolled his eyes, unsurprised. There was almost always food involved when Wally called him. "I think something's happening, I'll try to get closer." Robin said, then crept out from behind the wooden crates and snuck closer to the docks; he dove behind the darkness of some barrels just as a van drove up near the truck.

"I thought the Justice League had some emergency in the watchtower today, something about the universe collapsing. Is Batman excused from that or something? Also this burger is really good…" Wally spoke in his ear; Robin could hear the food being chewed. It was disgusting.

"I thought it was a pizza you were making, and no, Batman is with the Justice League, I'm doing this solo" Robin watched the animated interaction between the well-dressed man and the new arrivals carefully; there was someone else in the car who hadn't yet come out.

"It is a pizza, but it's a pizza in a hamburger." Wally said. "Also, the Bat let you go on a mission alone? Dude, even Flash doesn't trust me that much yet" He said incredulously, "How'd you talk him into it?"

Robin cringed, "Technically I shouldn't be out here... but we've been following these perps for months, and it would be a shame to let this lead go to waste, besides I…" Robin paused, the van door was opening and someone was coming out. He gasped quietly, it wasn't hard to recognize the burlap sack and messy stitches. _Scarecrow. _

"What happened?" Kid Flash was curious.

"It's Scarecrow, he's been missing from Arkham for months, I guess he's behind this exchange" Robin muttered. This wasn't good news; the last time Scarecrow had gone on a rampage all of Gotham was thrown into chaos with hallucinations and prison breakouts. Robin guessed the stuff in the truck was probably related to a new fear gas scheme of his.

"Whoa, Scarecrow? Isn't he the guy who made Gotham go on that crazy tripfest? Do you need backup?" Wally asked.

"No, stay put, this mission is too sensitive to blow." Robin instructed, suddenly there was a gunshot next to him, which ricocheted off the ground and struck a box behind him. His cover blown, Robin leapt out behind the barrels and rolled into one of the armed men, delivering a kick to his solar plexus and using the man as a springboard to take out two other goons. Bullets were flying past him as he did a backflip and he threw two batarangs into the hands of the shooters, which effectively disarmed them. _As if I can't handle myself. _Robin thought smugly. _Now to get Scarecrow._

The villain in question was pulling out a canister of what Robin assumed to be fear gas. He smirked and put on his air filter mask. He pulled out his eskrima sticks and charged towards Scarecrow.

Scarecrow had never been a good fighter in Robin's experience, preferring to use the toxin to do his dirty work. Therefore he wasn't surprised when the villain was easily brought down after a few seconds. However when Robin reached down to handcuff him, the man brought up the canister with force and knocked Robin's air filter off his face. Robin recoiled and backed up several steps, surprised.

The Scarecrow turned and ran towards the truck, hoping to get away with at least some of the cargo. _It won't be that easy._ Robin thought and threw three exploding batarangs at the truck.

In retrospect it was probably a stupid thing to do; he didn't expect it to be quite so flammable. The whole thing went ablaze and the force of the explosion propelled Scarecrow and Robin away from the blast. Robin remembered inhaling a peculiar scent on the smoke. _Powdered form of the fear toxin in the boxes…clever. _He could faintly detect police sirens through the haziness of his disorientation, and he crawled towards the coolness of the shadows and collapsed.

"Rob? Robin you there?" The communication link went unanswered because its owner was no longer conscious.

Someone was gently shaking him awake. He couldn't remember what happened or why he had been asleep in the first place, all he remembered was heat. The person was still shaking him, and he tried to move away. "Robin? Wake up." Someone was talking, the person was patting his face now, did it get more annoying than this? He opened his eyes, and saw someone he never expected to see.

It was his dad, John Grayson.

Robin gasped, "Dad?" Where was he? Had everything been a dream? He looked around, they were on top of the high platform in the circus, and his parents were in front of him smiling.

"It's time for our act son, are you ready?" His dad asked him, and his parents stepped towards the ledge, grabbing the trapeze bar together.

"Stop" Dick Grayson said, this wasn't right, he tried to get up to stop them, but felt weighted down. "Don't jump!" He yelled, grabbing for his mom's hand, "Mom! Dad!" He couldn't reach their hands, he was moving in slow motion.

"Ready Dickie?" His mom asked, and they both jumped off the ledge.

Kid Flash was startled, he thought Robin had been pleased to see him when he opened his eyes, but then Robin started speaking to his parents and it was clear he wasn't all there.

_It must be the fear gas, I wonder if I can find the antidote in his utility belt somewhere. _Kid Flash thought. He had heard an explosion through the comm link and Robin hadn't been responding, so he felt it best to check out the situation. By the time he had reached Gotham City, the fire had been controlled and most of the fear powder had been consumed by the flames or collected by the police.

He flipped through various containers in Robin's utility belt, he was worried for his best friend, but a small part of him was extremely curious as to what Robin kept in the belt. Bat-Flame thrower, bat-marbles, bat-grenades, bat-cuffs, bat-saw,_AHA _he thought in triumph, _Bat First Aid._

He opened the pouch with the batman logo on it and found several useful medical tools, he was especially glad to find one small bottle labeled "Fear Gas Antidote – administer w/ bat-syringe".

Kid Flash almost laughed. Everything had to be bat related it seemed. He attached the vial to the syringe and injected the antidote in Robin's arm. Robin muttered something like "Don't jump" and shifted restlessly. Wally sat back to wait.

Robin opened his eyes again, disoriented. Instead of his parents he saw the concerned face of Kid Flash in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Robin croaked out, his throat felt parched and his skin prickled like after a sunburn.

Wally was relieved, "Dude, you were hit by fear gas and you've been out of it for a while, and you said you didn't need backup" his tone was disapproving. "I used your bat-antidote on you. You have some seriously crazy stuff in your belt, I didn't even know a flame thrower could fit in that-" He trailed off, Robin didn't seem responsive. Wally gently pried off the mask on the boy's face. Robin's pupils were slightly dilated and his breath was short.

"Dude?" Wally waved his hand in front of Robin's face. "Robin?"

"Robin?"

Robin was on the floor of the circus tent this time, his parents had fallen and he was covered in their blood. His shoes were stained with red. Batman stood behind him. "Robin" He said grimly, "You didn't stop them"

Robin turned around, "I couldn't, I tried to warn them! I-" The blood pooled around his feet, his parents' faces turned towards him, eyes dark and soulless, silent as the grave. The blood covered Robin's clothes; he turned towards a menacing Batman.

"You didn't stop them"

Wally was panicking. He knew he had administered the right vial, maybe the dosage wasn't enough? He had given all of it to Robin, so why was Robin still under the fear gas's influence? "Snap out of it dude, you're ok now, nothing's wrong".

When Robin's breath began to hitch Wally feared he was on the verge of a breakdown. "That's it. We're going to the cave for some medical treatment." Kid Flash picked Robin up and was off in a blur of red and yellow. While the cave's medical equipment did not match up to the watchtower's it was still highly advanced and much safer than sitting on the piers behind a smoking truck surrounded by policemen.

"I couldn't stop them." Robin spoke aloud repeatedly.

A/N: Poor Robin. More to come soon, hope it's written convincingly :) Please review, love reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is here! Still working on rest, thanks for the reviews

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><p>The consciousness came in short bursts. Wally noticed that Robin seemed to be somewhat coherent about 20 percent of the time, whether this was due to the old antidote or the fact that Robin had only inhaled a diluted dose of the gas. It was during these short times that he tried to communicate with the bird.<p>

"He must have been developing a more resistant strain of the toxin" Robin choked out, his throat still felt sore and he wondered how much smoke he inhaled. "The antidote is only partially effective at treating the symptoms".

Kid Flash had replaced Robin's mask and they were in the medical room of Mount Justice, Robin laying on a patient bed with an oxygen mask on his face and Kid Flash sitting next to him. Wally scrunched his eyebrows thoughtfully, "Thankfully you didn't inhale a concentrated dose, so theoretically your body should fight the effects of the toxin well enough on its own, provided you rest enough and stuff."

"How long?" Robin asked, cutting his sentences shorter to accommodate his sore throat.

"You have a fever and the hallucinations seem to come pretty often, they'll probably decrease in frequency by the time your fever's broken, but I'm just guessing. I'm into chemistry more than biology actually" Wally crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "You don't look good at all, maybe I should call Batman or Alfred or something…"

"No" Robin frowned "He'll kill me"

"This might kill you if we don't treat it properly" Wally was frustrated, Robin was usually cool-headed and logical but he was clearly unwell right now and therefore not thinking properly.

"Don't tell him, don't tell anyone." Robin's voice was firm, and Wally doubted for a second that he was under the influence of anything. "Please."

Kid Flash was exasperated, "Fine, I won't tell for now." He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Hey dude, I'm going to get something to eat, I'll bring you something too, just try to get some sleep or something." He walked towards the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes, don't move." And he was gone.

Robin felt exceedingly uncomfortable, his throat felt raw, his head hurt, he was sore all over from the blast, and worst of all Batman would kill him if he ever found out. He rubbed his eyes, everything seemed so dim.

He suddenly noticed a man standing next to his bed. One half of the man's face was normal, handsome even. The other half was mutilated and burned beyond recognition. Two Face.

"Are you afraid, little brat?" Two Face laughed. Around him Robin saw shapes of people hanging from the ceiling, Two Face lit a cigar and from the bit of flame Robin saw Batman, dead and hung. "You killed him. You chose heads, and you lost the coin toss." Two Face held up a coin, "Now we play for your life."

Dick backed up in his bed, horrified. "I don't want to play your game."

Two Face sneered at him, "Everyone plays, you hear me? EVERYONE PLAYS THE GAME!" He yelled, and around the room windows opened and people's faces peered in. Robin was no longer Robin but Dick Grayson, maskless. Everyone could see his face, and everyone could see the death of Bruce Wayne.

Robin heard someone enter the room and he leapt out of bed, prepared for an attack.

Wally meanwhile was looking through the fridge wondering what a boy in Robin's condition could eat. There was also the problem of the fridge being almost empty. _Maybe I should make a quick run to the store…but it's midnight and the stores are closed…maybe I should make a quick run to the west coast? It might be pretty late there too…Maybe I should make a quick run to Europe, but I ran out of Euros last week. _He ran through the options in his head, wondering how he could acquire good food at this hour.

M'gann came floating up next to him, "Hungry at this hour Wally?"

"I'm always hungry babe. You wouldn't happen to have any more of those cookies would you?" Wally gave the martian a charming smile.

"No, I gave most of them to Superboy actually" M'gann was embarrassed. "I could try to cook something right now if you want."

"That'd be great!" Wally was ecstatic, "Actually, could you make some soup or something too? I think Robin's not feeling too well" _That was the understatement of the year. _Wally thought to himself. "I'll probably just run down to the nearest 24hr convenience store and buy all their food."

"What's wrong with Robin?" M'gann was concerned, "I heard you guys come in but I haven't seen Robin all evening."

"Oh he's just um…" Kid Flash scrambled to come up with a convincing story "he's been spending way too many late nights in Gotham. It messes with a guy's head." He smiled reassuringly at M'gann.

The martian was still uncertain, "Well I'll check up on him later, you can get your food and I'll make Robin some chicken soup". She telekinetically pulled out a pot and some chicken soup stock from the cupboards.

"Thanks babe, you're the best" Wally said gratefully, "back in a flash!" and was gone in the blink of an eye.

M'gann meanwhile began heating the water and cutting some vegetables. She didn't know why chicken soup was supposed to be so helpful in ailments but she always saw it on TV. She was determined to make Robin an especially Gotham-late-night-insanity curing chicken soup.

The water came to a boil and Kid Flash was back. "Can you believe how slow the service is at this time of night?" He complained, arms full of candy and energy bars.

They heard a crash from the direction of the medical bay.

_Dangit ,I take my eyes off you for one second... _Kid Flash sped down the hall to investigate while M'gann trailed behind in midair. They opened the doors of the medbay to find Robin standing next to a flipped cart of medical supplies and Superboy backed into the corner of the room, several batarangs and scalpels were embedded in the wall next to him.

"Robin! What are you doing?" M'gann was first to speak, she began to approach the boy wonder but Wally stuck out an arm and stopped her.

"You know that late night insanity thing he's got? He also kind of um… has temporary amnesia. It's a side effect." Wally explained, "So it's probably not really safe to get too close right now."

Superboy was bewildered as well, "I heard someone in here so I came to check. What's this about insanity?" He wasn't threatened at all by the knives and batarangs being thrown at him, but he wondered if Robin was conscious enough to remember that he had a hidden supply of kryptonite in his belt. He doubted Robin even knew who Superboy was at this point.

Robin looked around, he was in the batcave but Bruce wasn't there, the cave seemed hollow and more foreboding than usual. Deep within, he heard a cackle. "I knew you would come around eventually, boy blunder" Robin knew that voice.

He would recognize that mocking tone anywhere. "Joker! How did you get in here?" Robin's face took on a dark scowl, "Show yourself!" his hand moved towards his utility belt.

The Joker stepped out of the corner and walked towards the boy wonder. "It wasn't that hard to find you, after all, the richest man in Gotham isn't exactly a discreet cover is it, circus boy?" He began to cackle maniacally, "I've found you."

"Where are Bruce and Alfred?" Robin asked, not wanting to know the answer. Joker just laughed.

Superboy had begun slowly walking out of his corner, hoping to calm Robin down with words. "Robin, it's just me, Superboy". Robin seemed to have other ideas, and threw three ice pellets at Conner. The pellets exploded near his feet and expanded upwards to trap Superboy in ice up to his shoulders.

"This is not whelming" Superboy muttered.

"Superboy!" M'gann yelled, but it brought Robin's attention upon them.

"What have you done with Bruce and Alfred?" Robin yelled, charging towards Miss Martian and Kid Flash, hand in utility belt, preparing to throw more grenades.

M'gann yelped in surprise and brought her hand to her temple. Kid Flash was surprised to see Robin stop in his tracks and melt to the floor. He ran over to the downed boy wonder who was sound asleep.

"What was that?" Wally asked the martian.

"I took over his mind and suggested he fall asleep" M'gann answered, "It was all I could think of at the moment, why would he attack us?"

Behind Kid Flash, Superboy broke out of his ice prison easily "Who are Bruce and Alfred?"

A/N: What are you going to do now boy wonder? Making Kid Flash answer all your questions for you. Bad boy.


	3. Chapter 3

Last part guys, short, but more stories coming in future.

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><p>Wally groaned inside and really wished the boy wonder was conscious to explain himself. As it was he had enough bad lies already, and explaining Bruce and Alfred would be difficult. "Let's get him back in bed first" He smiled, hoping to ease the tension and stall a while longer. Once they got Robin back on the sickbed and replaced the oxygen mask (which only took about two minutes in total) M'gann and Conner stepped back and looked at Kid Flash expectantly.<p>

Kid Flash rubbed his neck again, he would rather be facing all the ice villains right now than have to invent a story to cover up the slip of Robin's tongue. "Well, you know how Robin lives in Gotham?" _This is not getting off to a good start… _He thought. Superboy and Miss Martian waited for him to continue.

"Well there's this guy in Gotham named Bruce Wayne, and Robin and I were investigating a case about him once…" _What do I say next? _"And in the middle of one of this Wayne guy's parties, the Joker comes in and starts shooting people!" _Yeah that sounds right, since it happens a lot. _"Robin and I were undercover, but the Joker took Bruce Wayne to make him reveal his personal vaults and financial assets" _This story is starting to sound weird_ "So me and Robin, we go after them, Robin was like 'What have you done with Bruce?' but we probably shouldn't have worried, since Batman came and handled the Joker. Bruce Wayne hardly even thanked us afterwards because he had some hot dates to go on." Wally smiled, that sounded convincing enough, and wasn't a rare occurrence in Gotham either, to be honest.

Superboy stared at him for a while, "Who is Alfred?"

_Crap _"Oh didn't I mention him? Alfred is Bruce Wayne's butler!" _crap crap crap_ "He made some really good hors d'oeuvres, Robin had too many of them and got food poisoning, so now whenever he gets food poisoning he thinks of Alfred." _crap._

M'gann and Superboy looked like they were deciding whether or not to accept his story, but for the most part it had been true. He and Robin had stopped the Joker from destroying Bruce Wayne's parties a few times, and Robin did tend to think of Alfred whenever he was sick. However he knew his lie wouldn't hold up if they asked more questions.

Thankfully the smoke alarm in the kitchen chose this moment to go off, and M'gann was interrupted in her thinking, "My soup! I forgot I left it on!" She exclaimed, and flew out of the room.

Superboy hesitated at the doorway, "I hope he feels better soon so he can explain this himself" he said, and exited the medbay.

_You and me both, Supes_. Wally thought. When Robin woke up they were going to have a long discussion. He wondered how long martian sleep suggestion lasted, and pulled up a chair next to Robin's bed to wait.

Robin's sleep was not restful. From all directions came horrors; _drowning in blood. fell from great height. tried to save his parents. batman going crazy. joker shooting batman. drowning in blood_

_drowning in blood._

_drowning in blood._

He awakened for real, gasping for breath, wondering whether the taste of blood in his mouth was real or imagined. Robin looked around the room; there were no corpses from the ceiling, no insane clowns with guns or dead circus performers, just the peaceful dimness of the medical bay and the rhythmic sound of Kid Flash breathing. He turned his head and saw the speedster sleeping in a chair next to the bed, his feet propped up on Robin's bed. Robin removed his oxygen mask and tried to sit up, but the stir of movement awoke his friend, who was instantly alert.

"Yo Rob-" Wally hesitated, "Do you know where you are this time?"

"Depends, are you real?" Robin answered somewhat suspiciously "I haven't known where I am for a while I think". His throat was still sore and he still felt tired, but he wasn't seeing any more blood.

Wally's face broke into a grin and he rushed forwards to give Robin a quick hug. It seemed like the toxin had run its course and Robin's fever was down as well. "Dude, you're back! You won't believe what happened earlier!"

Robin lay back down on the bed, "Tell me."

"Well you attacked Superboy with ice and nearly bombed me and Miss Martian, then M'gann put you in some sort of hypnotized sleep or something. M'gann's making you soup, since the last attempt turned into charcoal." Wally sat back in the chair casually and propped his feet up on the bed again.

"Wow. I don't really remember what happened at all. Did I say anything about- you know who?" Robin hesitated to ask, worried he might have let go of some important information.

"Yeah you mentioned Bruce and Alfred, but I got it covered." _Sort of. _Wally's grin was disarming, and he spoke with confidence. There was no need to worry Robin about i_that_/iin this condition. His face then turned serious. "What were you thinking anyway?" He took his feet off Robin's bed and leaned forwards tensely, "You could have asked me to come, or the team, or anyone!"

Robin sighed and looked at the wall "I told you, we'd been following those guys for months, and Batman was away and it was too risky to expose their plans at the wrong time."

"So instead you went alone and got yourself blown up" Wally's tone was sarcastic and disapproving "Great alternative."

Robin took off his gloves and rubbed his face "Can we not go over this now? I made a dumb move and I feel terrible. I blew the case, are you happy?" He was so tired and his eyes itched.

Kid Flash's expression softened, "How could I be happy when you nearly killed yourself?" He sighed, "But anyways you didn't exactly blow the case, since you did destroy most of that powder and you got Scarecrow and his henchmen arrested. That counts for something I think." He was rewarded by seeing Robin's mouth tilt upwards in a hesitant grin.

There was a silence while Robin pondered this. "Thanks Wally" He whispered, meaning _Thanks for covering for me, saving my life and being cool about it._ And Kid Flash knew it.

"No problem bro" Wally grinned, "now you can treat me to an all you can eat buffet."

Robin laughed, "When they say 'all you can eat' I don't think they mean eternity". Kid Flash smiled and was going to respond with a quip of his own, but his communication link beeped and he realized they were being summoned to the training room in the cave. _Batman._

Batman's face showed up on the holoscreen, big and menacing. _As usual_ Kid Flash thought. He left Robin in the room to collect himself, and dashed out to the main room where Superboy and M'gann were waiting. M'gann had a pot of soup floating in front of her and Superboy stood with his arms crossed over his chest. When Kid Flash arrived, Batman's eyes narrowed. "Where is Robin?" The bat's tone was dark.

Awkward silence filled the room and all the two aliens looked at Kid Flash expectantly. Wally nervously pulled at his collar, "He's asleep right now, should I go wake him up?" He asked, hoping to stall longer.

Miss Martian filled in as well, "Also he has amnesia, or insanity, I forgot which one…" She said earnestly. Wally would have laughed if he wasn't so nervous.

Superboy also pitched in, "And he has food poisoning." He said with a dull tone of voice.

Kid Flash groaned internally, why were things going so badly? "Actually, it's probably just a cold, nothing to worry about." He chuckled nervously, "I think he's been staying up too much lately."

The face on the screen showed no emotion, but Kid Flash knew Batman was completely unconvinced, Batman was about to open his mouth to respond when Robin walked in the room like nothing was wrong.

"Hey Batman, sorry, I was asleep. Is something happening in Gotham?" Robin asked innocently.

The Bat glared at his partner for a long time, and both Kid Flash and Robin began to sweat under his scrutiny. Finally he broke the silence, "Nothing. You may spend the night there, we will talk in the morning." The holoscreen shut off and Batman's face was gone.

"Robin! How are you feeling? I made you some soup, and it's not burnt this time!" M'gann exclaimed cheerfully after Batman left. Superboy also had a smile on his face.

Kid Flash and Robin made eye contact briefly, and shared a grin before heading off to the kitchen for some cure-all chicken soup.

All was right with the world again.

Epilogue:

Bruce Wayne walked into the dining room of Wayne Manor in the morning with a newspaper in his hand. His ward Dick Grayson was dressed in pajamas, sitting at the table eating blueberry waffles covered in honey. Bruce sat down across from him with a cup of coffee. "So, anything interesting happen yesterday?" He sipped some coffee.

"Yeah I was bored and went to find Wally, but we had too much of M'gann's soup and I had an upset stomach for a while. I'm better now" Dick smiled at Bruce, "How was your evening?"

"Clark and J'onn managed to distract the invaders long enough for me to disarm the doomsday device." Bruce said without emotion, he drank more coffee and placed the newspaper in front of Dick. The headlines read: "Scarecrow and Accomplices Stopped by Explosion; Origin of Fire Unknown" Dick scanned the article quickly, it made no mention of costumed vigilantes, but it did say that most of the thugs had been tied up before the police reached the scene.

"Wow, who knew Scarecrow was back in Gotham?" Dick questioned innocently. Bruce didn't fall for it.

"Good Job."

Dick was shocked, and almost dropped the newspaper. Was he hearing things correctly?

"You apprehended the villains and stopped what could have been a major attack on Gotham City."

Dick was speechless, but Bruce continued.

"That said, what you did was reckless, foolish, and irresponsible. You're grounded until you're 30 and will be spending the rest of a very, very long time waxing the Batmobile, the Lamborghini, the Porsche, the Ferrari and the Batwing. Then you'll be cleaning the batcave and polishing each of the batarangs until you can see your face in the reflection." Bruce set his coffee on the table and stood up to leave. Dick felt like he had the breath knocked out of him, he knew it was too good to be true.

As Bruce walked away Dick asked, "How did you know?"

Bruce smirked at him, "You have a slight tan around your face but not where you mask was, your costume was lightly coated in fear toxin and ash, though you tried to wash it off there were traces of it under the cape and in your boots. The fear gas antidote was missing from your belt; you replaced the syringe but not the vial because the antidote was outdated. Your throat is sore but you're hiding it, and honestly Dick- I'm Batman. How could I not know?"

With that he turned and left the room, leaving behind a very bewildered boy wonder.

"Dangit."

A/N: AAAnnd it's done! That was a super short story, but believe me when I say that it was written more for the friendship value than the angst value, though I do love reading some angst every so often. *Goes off to yj anon meme to find more prompts to fill* Hope you enjoyed it!


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